Getting Ready for Graduate School

Oldest child leaves for Grad. School on Wednesday.  His last day of work at his old job, at his undergraduate institution was Friday.  We are frantically attempting to get him together.  He's going to be further away from home now- 5 hours instead of 1 - so there will be no same day runs from us on our way into or out of work to drop stuff by. 

Yesterday, I did the unthinkable. I forced him to clean his room.  He and his brother share a room, and neither of them are great housekeepers, and I've tried to let them have their own space.  However, I fully realize that he's never really going to live at home again full time, and I want him to clean up his space so it will be clean when he does come home.

After 4 hours, we had cleaned out under his bed.  Let me be specific here:  He has a loft bed, so the space under his bed is significant, and it is cluttered.  We found trash.  Good Lord, did we find trash.  We found stuff from high school - old papers, notes from friends, and whatnot.  We even found a one gallon bottle of water that had been put under there when he moved back home for the summer.  The bottle had broken, water had seeped into the carpet, and there was mold and mildew everywhere.  I don't understand where or how all of this stuff got there, because he and I do clean out his room annually before he goes back to school.  I think it just procreates - like bunnies.

We've got him partly packed.  He wanted to put that off until Wednesday morning - right before we leave.  No, no, no, no, no!  We wouldn't get out of here until after noon, and we have a 5 hour drive staring at us, and the rental office closes at 4.  I made him start packing stuff up last night.  We've got a huge pile in the living room, but at least the pile is in one place. 

That's the funny part- I feel a little like a hoarder.  Middle child has his boxes and stuff piled in the hallway.  Daughter has her stuff piled in the kitchen - and the dining room.  Oldest child has his in the living room, and I am winding way my through stacks and stacks of boxes, crates, and bags every single time I try to move anywhere. 

I am really going to miss him when he goes.  In my heart, I know that from now on, he'll just be visiting us.  He's going to be working on his PhD, in a different state, and I know he's going to have great adventures, meet wonderful people, and do fantastic things.  I'm terribly excited for him, and for all of the possibilities laid out before him.  (I'm a little envious, actually.)

But I am going to miss him.  He's my first baby.  I know, he's not a baby anymore, but he is my first child, and he will truly be flying out on his own from now on.  I'll always have his back - but I'm going to have it from much further away now.

This is going to be a very weird fall.  All 3 of the kids, out of the house.